In the 2A25 TRMM data product, where within the HDF file is the time of the orbit information located?
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2026 11:25 am America/New_York
Answer:
The date information is in the file name, or in the HDF file,
"OBJECT=RangeBeginningDate;\n",
"\tValue=2009/01/05;\n",
"\tData_Location=PGE;\n",
"\tMandatory=FALSE;\n",
"END_OBJECT=RangeBeginningDate;\n",
For each scan, you need to locate a variable in Vdata, scan_time, which is the time associated with the scan, expressed as an 8-byte floating variable for the UTC second of the day.
Either 'HDFView' or 'ncdump' can be employed to view that variable.
The date information is in the file name, or in the HDF file,
"OBJECT=RangeBeginningDate;\n",
"\tValue=2009/01/05;\n",
"\tData_Location=PGE;\n",
"\tMandatory=FALSE;\n",
"END_OBJECT=RangeBeginningDate;\n",
For each scan, you need to locate a variable in Vdata, scan_time, which is the time associated with the scan, expressed as an 8-byte floating variable for the UTC second of the day.
Either 'HDFView' or 'ncdump' can be employed to view that variable.